and you're going to look back and have a bar chart of deficits and debt. and there's not going to be an asterisk that says it was the republicans' fault. i think we've got to stop playing poker, work together and understand we're working to save the country. >> that might be the long game. the asterisk in history books later. right? the short gain is raising taxes. that really is what everything is focused on right now. and i think, nan, it's fair to say that could be a big problem for republicans. all polls indicate that it's going to be the republicans that hold the bag if you end up not raises taxes on people who are perceived to be very wealthy who could afford it. >> well, there is the -- there are the atmospherics and then there are the economic realities. of course, if you look at a lot of the polling surrounding the election and post election exit polling show that, in fact, president obama was elected primarily because people felt that he was compassionate, that he cares about them. and that's an important quality. but, in fact, they endorsed the